WTC unveils 'Savannah Touches the World'

Saturday

Jan 12, 2013 at 11:26 PM

Mary Carr Mayle

It's been a busy first year for the World Trade Center Savannah.

A nonprofit affiliate of the Savannah Economic Development Authority, the WTCSav has been working to prove its mettle by providing the region with international connections and more opportunities to grow and attract business.

While some of its early successes have been documented - educational initiatives, an internship program and a case study with a local firm doing business overseas - a good part of the organization's first year has been devoted to a major ongoing research project - a look at how "Savannah Touches the World."

"Because, like most organizations, we have limited time and resources, we thought it was important to get our arms around the international marketplace," said Eric Johnson, chairman of the WTCSav board.

"We want to determine which countries hold the most potential for our region based on existing assets, industries, connections, relationships and investment," Johnson said. "And we want to be very data-driven in our approach."

The group examined and evaluated dozens of criteria that directly affect international commerce within the region. A yearlong, in-depth analysis of more than 20,000 data - both quantitative and qualitative - covered a wide range of factors, including raw import and export data, non-governmental entities facilitating trade, already existing trade agreements and regional businesses with partnerships abroad, including relationships the city of Savannah and other regional partners have been cultivating.

In a meeting facilitated by former Georgia Department of Economic Development Commissioner Craig Lesser, now a consultant to the organization, the WTCSav board and staff came up with 27 countries they felt were a strong match for the area.

From there, the list was narrowed to five target countries for 2013. They are the United Kingdom, Brazil, Germany, Japan and Canada.

"These are the countries we will be aggressively and proactively targeting this year," said Brynn Grant, vice president of SEDA and WTC Savannah.

That means focusing marketing and sales efforts to attract regional investments by companies in those countries as well as promoting area business and economic development efforts to find opportunities to do business with those countries, Grant said.

Why those five?

Some of the countries that made the list were not surprising.

"The UK, Germany and Japan rose to the top pretty quickly," Lesser said. "Savannah already has major relationships with those countries. There is JCB from the UK and Mitsubishi Power Systems, Fuji Vegetable Oil and Mitsui-Soko from Japan."

Germany has long been an active business partner, Grant said.

"While there are a number of German-based businesses - like EMD Millipore and BASF - already located in the region, there has also been a fair number of prospective businesses from Germany here in the last few years," she said.

Savannah even has its own Honorary Consul General - Denis Blackburne - representing Germany in the region, Lesser said.

"Canada is the largest trading partner of the U.S. Savannah was the site of the first Southeast-U.S. Canada conference, which initiated Georgia's focus on increasing business with Canada," Lesser said.

"We really believed Brazil should be on the list," Lesser said. "It is one of the fastest growing economies in the world; there were too many opportunities to ignore. And, a delegation from Rio de Janeiro has added Savannah to a visit in late March."

Once the top five countries were established WTCSav began to take a critical look at those countries not in the top five that still held the potential for unique relationships.

"These are countries that fit in a number of categories, with growing economies interested in international trade and investment," Lesser said.

"We are making sure we have a diversified portfolio."

From that came a secondary list of five "countries of interest" - Turkey, Israel, Portugal, Nigeria and South Africa.

"Turkey has the fastest growing economy in Europe, bridging the East and West," Grant said. "Our state has led trade missions there that have been beneficial to us, and regional partners have been directly exploring business opportunities there."

Similarly, Israel has ties with the city of Savannah, Gulfstream and Georgia Ports.

"Our mayor has initiated and developed a strong relationship with Israel, something we can certainly build upon," Grant said.

Portugal is home to power transformer manufacturer Efacec, with U.S. headquarters in Rincon, Lesser said.

"Nigeria and South Africa offer significant potential for investments and trade, based on the research and existing relationships," Lesser said.

"Our data indicate that Nigeria and South Africa offer the most business potential."

A fluid process

Grant and Johnson stressed that none of this is written in stone.

"To my knowledge, the research done by WTCSav is unprecedented - certainly at the regional level, if not the state," Lesser said.

"Now we have the statistical evidence that backs up our intuition and practical sense that these countries are important to us."

Grant agreed.

"It's giving us a real path to a competitive future. Now, when we have a new inquiry, we have critical information at our fingertips.

"But it's also a very fluid process," she said. "We're constantly adding information to the database, giving us a dynamic tool that is flexible and adaptable.

Johnson concurred.

"It's critical that we revisit this every year and make adjustments as necessary," he said.

And, he stressed, the WTCSav won't be turning away any other opportunities just because they aren't on the list.

"In the final analysis, the World Trade Center Savannah is about attracting investment and creating good jobs. We won't ever lose sight of that."